Boulevard of dreams

SERIAL decorators, dreamers, tyre-kickers and even buyers, will get their pre-Christmas day out at Old Quarter, Ballincollig.

The ground-breaking retail and residential scheme is to fling open its doors to all comers next Saturday, no appointment necessary.

Up to now the O’Flynn Construction development has been sold on its long waiting list and viewing was by invitation only, but that’s set to change.

“We’re opening our new showhouse to the public, where we have 10 units on offer, but we’ll also open the other showhouses to give people a look, even though they won’t be selling until next year,” says Trish Stokes, director of New Homes at Sherry FitzGerald.

There are now 174 units completed of a total of 871, which will take the best part of five years to finish, according to Ms Stokes.

This time round, the marketing team decided not to start another waiting list for the new releases - last time around they had buyers camping out overnight for houses, despite having an invitation system.

And they’ve never had to push the development, says Paul Reid of Sherry FitzGerald New Homes, buyers just came off the list.

Now, the firm are selling what’s probably the most grown-up of all the properties in the Old Quarter scheme, The Boulevard.

In signature creamy style, this elegant row of townhouses looks like a lower-case London square. Running alongside both sides of a straight road, it’s an impressive first for a Cork development.

These are houses for couples, retirees and grown-up families, perhaps, more than for your families.

Each three-storey townhouse has 1,725 square feet, with four bedrooms, two ensuite bathrooms, a main bathroom and guest suite.

They all come with a decent garden to the rear, with railing and balconies to the front and top quality hard landscaping.

The layout is typical of architect, Roddy Hogan, who reprises the style of Douglas Close in this latest phase. The finish is top quality, with a choice of fittings from O’Flynn’s.

There will be 48 of these impressive townhouses when completed and the Boulevard will be divided mid-way by a central plaza with apartments built in a hexagonal style. A major selling point has to be the location: the Boulevard runs diagonally down to the river Lee and has rolling green hills as a backdrop - permanently.